U.S. sending 600 troops to Eastern Europe in response to Ukraine crisis

Soldiers of the Ukrainian Army sit atop combat vehicles as they are blocked by people on their way to the town of Kramatorsk on Wednesday, April 16, 2014. Pro-Russian insurgents commandeered six Ukrainian armored vehicles along with their crews and hoisted Russian flags over them Wednesday, dampening the central government's hopes of re-establishing control over restive eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

The U.S. is sending about 600 soldiers to Eastern Europe in
response to growing Russian aggressions in Ukraine, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will each receive a
company-size infantry unit of paratroopers from the U.S. Army's 173 Airborne Brigade
Combat Team based in Vicenza, Italy, said Pentagon spokesman Rear. Adm. John Kirby.
The soldiers will be participating in training and other exercises, according
to Kirby, including live-fire events. The soldiers will be rotating on a
monthly basis, with the first group arriving tomorrow.

The deployments are the first in a series of expanded U.S.
presence in the area.

"Since Russian aggression in Ukraine, we have been
constantly looking for ways to reassure our allies and partners," he said.

The Pentagon announced the Navy will also be sending the
frigate Taylor to the Black Sea to replace the destroyer Donald Cook. The Donald Cook was the target of an earlier run-in with a Russian fighter jet that buzzed it several times prompting condemnation from the Pentagon.